Our Basque Restaurants Visited and Impressions of Each

To go along with our recent Basque-themed posts of our travel in northern Nevada and Idaho, we thought we'd reminisce about the Basque eateries we've visited over the years. Sadly, this is kind of a dying breed as the list of Basque restaurants in America seems to get smaller each year but when you really want a friendly feast, there's not too much better.

The first Basque restaurant my wife and I visited is the now defunct Overland Hotel in Gardnerville, Nevada. There's another restaurant there, now, but it's not the Basque restaurant that was there before.

I remember this one in particular because, after we'd been seated, without asking anything the waiter poured us red wine and left the carafe on the table. Soup was served, then salad, then bread and pasta. Finally, after all that, he asked us what we wanted. Steak for me, lamb for my wife. It was delicious and we left very satisfied and looking forward to our next Basque experience.

Next, we tried Le Chalet Basque in La Puente. We were the only diners in the restaurant, which may explain why it also went out of business, but is was another very good one. 

A bit dusty around the edges but the food was good. Being a "French" Basque restauant, the salad came last but the many other courses were in the usual order and on point, starting with the split pea soup, pickled tongue appetizer (delicious!), cheese, bread, pasta, and the entre with fries followed by dessert.

The Continental in Glendora is more like a leather-boothed steakhouse but serves in the Basque tradition. Unfortunately, we've never had a great experience there...hopefully, yours will go better if you try it.

For a Basque breakfast, we head to Taylor's, a sort of dive bar and truck scale in Chino, where you can get delicious and inexpensive ribeye to go with your eggs.

It's nothing fancy but the food is hearty and delicious.

The last Southern California Basque restaurant is the outstanding Centro Basco in Chino which offers not only regular restaurant seating but also the Basque "boarding house" style dining where you sit at long tables with strangers passing the food and making new friends.

This is the one we've eaten at the most and rate it as one of the top Basque restaurants we've every been too. Try the tongue, ribeye in wine sauce, lamb...all great entrees...to go along with soup that can be a meal in itself, the stunningly good local Galleano house wine, pasta, salad, bread, pasta, dessert and more.

We like this one so much we had Tim's college graduation dinner here.

Going north over the mountains is the hotspot of California Basque culture, Bakersfield. Noriega's was the most famous here but, unfortunately, we never got a chance to dine there. We did hit a trio of restaurants there, however, including my favorite.

Starting with the one that's no longer there, my wife still rapsodizes about the Basque Cafe that used to be on Coffee Road. It was our first Bakersfield version of one of our favorite cuisines.

Tim just loved the garlic fried chicken there.

Not to worry too much because down the road on Rosedale Highway is my all-time favorite, Benji's. Here, you start off with the best salad I've had anywhere...a fresh selection from the garden with their delicious creamy vinegarette...vegetable soup, pickled tongue and jack cheese, pasta, bread and salsa, the vegetable dish, your choice of potatoes, the entree, then dessert.

Some Basque restaurants are more of a diner atmosphere, which describes Woolgrowers in Old Bakersfield very well. The food is still top notch but maybe just a little more inexpensive.

Back over in Nevada, there's another restaurant in Gardnerville, JT Basque, just up the street from the old Overland Hotel. 

While we've really enjoyed some pretty unique entrees (my stew of beef offal selections was not visually enticing but it was delicious), we have notice a little slippage in quality in the wake of the Pandemic.

Up the road in Reno, we lament the loss of the Santa Fe Hotel that sat hard in the shadow of the giant Harrah's hotel near the train station.

Again, it was a great parade of salads, soups, pasta, vegetables and more before your delicious entree. It was also strictly boarding house style where you'd sit with strangers who became friends by the end of the meal.

Moving east is my wife's new favorite (I'll give it a close second), the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca over in a quiet part of town by the train tracks. Instead of the pickled tongue appetizer, she had the tongue entree. 

She loved it but I like my ribeye covered in cloves of garlic and mushrooms better.

In Elko, we wanted to try the Star Hotel on the edge of the red light district but it was closed for renovations. Instead, we went to the Toki Ona, a diner type restaurant on the main drag.

Again, my wife had the tongue and I had the ribeye. It was good but not as good as the Martin, above.

Finally, we went to the Leku Ona in Boise, Idaho. This is not the typical Basque feast that the others on the list above are. It's more of a nice dinner house, where you choose an entree which will come with some vegetables on the side and maybe a side salad. No one will be sharing your table with you (we were told at the Basque Cultural Center down the street that "they don't do that kind of Basque dining in Idaho").

The food, like the others, is pretty outstanding. I had a nice Basque steak sandwich. My wife had the salmon with garlic. It was all very good and very filling.

While we've been to quite a few Basque restaurants, there are still many to go and we're looking forward to every one of them.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

THE COCKTAIL HOUR: Elko, Nevada Pub Crawl

Idaho Street...or highway 535...is the main thorough fare of Elko, Nevada. You'll find all the main gas stations, hotels, fast food joints, and casinos along this street. A block south is a square, with no name that I can find, that is bordered by 3rd Street on the west, 8th Street on the east (where the centennial railroad water tower is) with storefronts lining Railroad and Commercial Streets on the north and south. In the middle is a large parking lot with room for hundreds of cars.

Since no one else has seemed to name it, I'll call it "Railroad Square" because the parking lot is where the train tracks used to be long ago.

Along the edges of this square, I count eight bars and one casino. Not all are open the afternoon we're here but it looks like we'll be able to hit most of them that are.

Before we start drinking, we check out the Cowboy Arts and Gear Museum, located in the former saddelry of G.S. Garcia who fabricated western saddles and gear here from 1894 through 1933. After that, we spend a few minutes two doors down at a still functioning saddle and gear store, JM Capriola.

Now, we can start our crawl. First up is Machi's Saloon. A few patrons are sipping the appropriate Basque libation, picon punch, while we strike up a converstation with them over our whiskey sours.

One of the cowboys at the bar tells us of the syndicate he runs to buy a horse to run in the big horse race that is run during the county fair each September. His buddy tells us about where this desert town's water comes from (underground) and the dozen or so commercial gold mines that still operate in the region.

Next up is another couple of sours at the Stockmen's Casino where, since I'm feeding the video poker machine at the bar, are free. Well, I do spend two bucks on poker but the free drinks are a pretty good trade.

We come across a lovely little dive bar called Goldie's on the other side of the square. They don't have the ingredients necessary for a whiskey sour so it's just shots of Maker's Mark for us while we get to know some more locals and their young, friendly pit bull who gets lonely whenever one of them goes to the bathroom.

Lastly, we head a couple of blocks away to the Toki Ona, a local Basque watering hole and restaurant, to have a couple of picon punches while deciding to stay for dinner.

It's a nice taste of what this small city has in store and we vow to come back and try some of the other closed locations on another trip.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

Winning in Winnemucca

Continuing this Basque themed trip, we end up in Winnemucca, a small city in Northern Nevada, about halfway between Reno and Elko. It was a long and lonely drive through the desert from the north with giant, snow covered peaks lining highway 95. The city looked very welcoming when we arrived.

Our hotel was to be the Quality Inn at the Model T Casino. Unfortunately, the accessible room we reserved was accessible in name only. The roll in shower had a step to get into and a sliding glass door that was impossible to get Tim around.

Not only that but there was only a half inch of clearance for Tim and his chair throughout the room. We looked at a regular room but it was worse so we said the room just wasn't accessible and it would be impossible to spend the night there. The manager agreed and gave us a free cancellation.

Now, we're here without a room and our choices are to wander around to find another room or bite the bullet and drive another five hours and just go home.

Before we steal ourselve for such a long journey when we're frankly too tired for it, we pull into the Candlewood Suites at the east end of town. I check with the front desk and, while they have some rooms, none are what we'd really look forward to so we start phoning around town. The Holiday Inn Express at the other end of town has a standard room with two queen beds plus a sofa bed. 

It's only for one night, Tim already had a bath this morning, so the only question is whether he could get to the room without barriers and if he could fit through the bathroom door. The manager agrees to come let me look and see if the room will do.

Five minutes later, I'm touring the room which is a heckuva lot roomier than the Model T room we'd booked. Everything looks fine so we check in.

As said before, we're only here for one night and we've lost an hour looking for a room so we've got to get cracking.

Our main reason for stopping here was to add another Basque restaurant to our list. Like many old Basque restaurants, this one started as a boarding house near the train station where young, lonely, and hard working shepherds from the old country could spend the night and get a solid meal between bouts of living out in the middle of nowhere with a few hundred sheep. 

This one is called the Hotel Martin, although it hasn't been a hotel or boarding house since the 1970's. It's away from the busy highway and even the secondary business street separated from the dusty desert only by the nearby train tracks.

In the comfortable, cozy, heavily wooded interior, we start off as always with a picon punch. It's a bitter and sweet mixture of amer picon liqeuer and brandy with a lemon twist that is the quintessential Basque cocktail.

If you're familiar with family style Basque dinners, you won't be surprised by what comes next, a parade of food that will expand your ideas of "full." A carafe of house red wine, a tureen of soup (tonight, minestrone), a bowl of salad, bread and butter, a tongue appetizer, a dish of hominy and chorizo, another dish of bacon green beans, then the entree...tonight, a 24 ounce rib eye covered in garlic cloves and mushrooms to be shared by all three of us...and another platter of french fries along with their "prairie dust," a mixture of salt, pepper, and garlic powder to be sprinkled on anything you'd like.

Bread pudding is brought out aftward for dessert. My gosh, we're full!

It's not cheap but worth every penny. We've been to a lot of Basque restaurants over the years and the Martin is one of the best.

After dinner, back at the hotel, Letty and I take advantage of coupons given to us by the front desk that gives us $10 of free play and a free cocktail at the slot machines of the connected Pete's Casino. I stop after I drink my whiskey sour and lose my ten dollars, Letty comes out eight dollars ahead.

It's time to relax in the room for awhile and rest up for tomorrow's long drive.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved

Basquing it On The Road: A Pit Stop in Elko

We're exploring more of the area around our new neighborhood in Northern California. This includes crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains and exploring the deserts of Nevada on the other side. This time, we're spending some time in the northeastern area around Elko.

We've got one whole day to spend here so let's get to it. We're starting off with a drive along highway 225 from Duck River Reservation from the Idaho border down to Elko.

From wild mustangs to teepees in the back of almost every home here on the rez, we head south into Wild Horse Canyon for a windy and gorgeous drive along the Owyhee River.

Wild Horse Reservoir greets us at the other end and we make a pit stop at Wild Horse Ranch where some clean restrooms await at the convenience store, bar, and restaurant. You can also camp the night here, if you wish, but it's just a nature break for us while we admire the snow covered scenery nearby.

More high elevation Nevada desert scenery unfolds at we make our way to Elko, a city in northwest Nevada that will be our home for the night.

Our room is a functional, clean but not spectacular room with two queen beds and a roll-in shower at the Hampton Inn, next door to the Gold Dust West Casino that would be a great place for breakfast. The Hampton has a decent and free breakfast but for our second morning, we splurge on the $5.99 special of bacon and eggs at the casino.

We want to do two things while we're here...do a pub crawl and have a nice Basque dinner. The pub crawl will be featured on our Sunday Cocktail Hour post. For the dinner, we head to the Star Hotel, an old Basque boarding house that used to be next to the railroad tracks (the trains moved, not the hotel).

Unfortunately, when we walk in, we find everything covered in plastic sheeting. The restaurant is under renovation and is not open today. We'll have to go to our plan B, the Toki Ona, the city's other Basque restaurant. 

Along the way, as we pull out from the parking lot, we find out that the block down from the Star Hotel is the city's red light district with about a half dozen brothels with names like "Inez's Dancing and Diddling" (prostitution is legal in much of Nevada and operates openly in regulated brothels).

At the Toki Ona, it's more of a diner atmosphere but has the standard Basque setup and entrees...start off with a tureen of soup to be shared with a loaf of bread and red wine. Then a bowl of salad. Then a plate of spaghetti. Then a dish of green beans. Now another load of rice with your potato selection (fries and au gratin for us). Finally the entree with was a plate of beef tongue in gravy and a rib eye covered in garlic and big enough for the three of us.

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As always, it's a ton of food and we're only able to get through about half of each dish.

We take a drive and see the fairgrounds and the nice, shady neighborhood nearby with great tree-lined streets that reminds us a little of the walking tour we did in Carson City.

It's only a day but the city is nice enough that we decide we'd like to make a return trip...maybe when the rodeo or fair is in town.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2022 - All Rights Reserved 

A Relaxing Day in the Comstock Lode: Virginia City, Nevada

The last day of our Nevada getaway is being spent in the old west mining town of Virginia City. Relegated to ghost town status in the 1930's, after the silver mines played out, the town had a revival in the early 1960's when the hit western series "Bonanza" hit the airwaves. Much of that show was set in Virginia City, although none of it was filmed there, which is why the fictional Virginia City of that show looks nothing like the real one.

It's a steep climb into Virginia City. So steep, in fact, that trucks and other large vehicles are banned from the main road. They must take a longer, more gently climbing road to the east.

All that climbing results in C Street (the town's main drag, also state highway 341) being at the same elevation as the water level at Lake Tahoe, high in the sierras on the other side of Carson Valley. This also makes the weather a bit more mild than the desert temperatures below, although some winter days here can be brutal.

This late April day, though, is very pleasant and clear. We park at the courthouse in a handicapped spot (which I found out later I should not have done...it's only open to tourists on the weekends). There are some pay lots along C Street. Street parking is free and there are a few other free lots a block west or east of C but it will entails negotiating a hill in this steeply banked city. (Download this PDF Map of Virginia City to see where the parking lots are) 

Our first stop is a short block down a steep hill to the visitor's center on the corner of C and Taylor Streets. We pick up a copy of that map...we're wishing that they had a cool walking tour of the town like Carson City did but it's just a basic map...and notice that they also have two accessible restrooms available along with free popcorn and gin tasting in what was an old and historic Virginia City saloon (this used to be the Crystal and the lighted sign and chandeliers above the bar are 1870's originals).

We continue north along C. While Letty browses a couple of antique shops, Tim and I share a red ale at the Virginia City Taphouse and Brewery. Technically, it's just a taphouse now as the owners have removed the brewing tanks and equipment for preparation to a move next door.

It's very good. We want to check out the Delta Saloon, which is supposed to be one of the few places in Nevada where you can still play old-fashioned, coin operated slot machines but the Delta has gone out of business. Its famous "Suicide Table" has been moved to a saloon across the street.

At the end of the block, we cross over to The Way It Was Museum and check out a few artifacts in their courtyard. We're not moved to pay admission to go in, however.

The Bonanza Saloon, which looks like it is still in the middle of a renovation, is the new home of the "Suicide Table," formerly of the Delta across the street. This is an old faro table which had a few owners who lost big, went broke, and decided to take the easy way out, giving it the name it's known by today.

What used to be a museum but it closed now, is the offices of the Territorial Enterprise where a young reporter named Samuel Clemens started writing under the name of Mark Twain.

A couple of doors down, we check out the extensive chandelier collection of the Virginia City Bar and Grill, where I pick up a quick $2.50 playing one of their slot machines.

I quickly sink my winnings into some candy for Tim and I at the extensively stocked Virginia City Mercantile.

While waiting outside another antique shop for Letty, Tim and I meet a detective from the sheriff's office who chats with us about life here. There are less than 5,000 residents of the county (Storey County, the smallest in Nevada). The Sheriff provides all the local law enforcement for the county with 20 deputies under him who work out of a small, storefront office at the end of the street.

The courthouse we parked at is still in use as is a newer one at the edge of town next to the jail. 

We bid the detective a good day as we stroll along to the Firehouse Barbecue at the end of the street on the other side of the Sheriff's Office. Along with the grill, there's a full bar and and ice cream bar.

I

t's the ice cream we're after and we get a couple cups and enjoy them out on the deck where we also get to take in the famous 100 mile view from Virginia City.

Back across the street, Letty checks out some more shops while Tim and I head to the Ponderosa Saloon where, along with your libation, there's a entrance to a mineshaft in the back of the room. Tours are available but, alas, it's not chair friendly.

We finish up back where we started where Letty picks up a bottle of gin from the visitor's center to take home. Back in the van, we do a little auto touring to check out the cemetery and the area east of town.

There's a trail, fairly accessible (packed dirt) that starts here and heads east into the hills with lots of warnings not to stray off unless you want to die a lonely death along the shards or water in an unmarked mine shaft.

Indeed, there's a fenced off area next to the starting kiosk where a fifty foot section of mineshaft collapsed. Luckily, no one was standing on top at the time.

With that, our time in Virginia City is done. We head back down to Minden where we have a delicious and cheap ($14.99) prime rib dinner at the Carson Valley Inn Casino.

Tomorrow, it's back home.

Darryl Musick

Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved

Up Close and Personal With Nevada History: The Kit Carson Trail

I like to walk. In fact, I do several miles a day. It's also a very accessible activity to do for wheelchair users while on vacation and we've come to schedule at least one big walk for each trip. We've done the massive Englisher Garten from top-to-bottom in Munich, made a 10 mile loop of Halifax in Nova Scotia, went from Market Street to Fisherman's Wharf and back in San Francisco, from Westminster to Abbey Road to Harrod's and back in London, for a few examples.

You can find some very interesting things on these walks if you know what you're looking for.

That's the case with the Kit Carson Trail, which is an historical walking tour put together by Carson City's Visitor's Bureau. The trail is a bit over two and half miles. With a few side trips and detours, ours came up to four miles by the end.

You can download a printable copy from their website, or just stop by their office at 716 N. Carson Street, adjacent to the Nevada State Railroad Museum just south of downtown. Free handicapped parking is available in the back of stop #1, the Nevada State Museum and along the streets nearby.

We've done the Nevada State Museum on a previous visit (click that link to check it out) so we just use it for convenient parking, today, and move on to stop #2, the Cavell House.

A prominent dentist, William Cavell had this house built with every possible modern convenience in 1907. The house has seen better days but, even in its current run-down condition, you can see what a marvelous house this is.

Moving up the street, the Stewart House...from 1887...was the home of U.S. Senator William Stewart. Stewart went on to be one of the founders of the Silver Party in 1892.

A block up the street is the beautiful 1862 gingerbread home of Governor John Jones who led the state from 1895-1896. 

The side treehouse is pretty fantastic.

Next door is 1864 house of Louis Prang, who started the tradition of Christmas Cards in the United States. This house is also a popular filming site for the Hallmark Channel.

The Bliss House is one of the largest of the historic homes here in Carson City. Bliss was a lumber baron and you'll find many things named after him, including Bliss State Park in Lake Tahoe where the Vikingsholm Castle sits on the shore of Emerald Bay.

Fun fact: on one of our spring break ski trips to Tahoe in College, Bliss' great grandson came along on one of them. None of us got along with him.

Across the street is the current Governor's Mansion, built in 1909 to serve as the official residence. Until then, it was up to each officeholder to secure their own lodgings.

Moving on we get to the Krebs-Petersen House built in 1914 for Dr. Ernest Krebs, who is credited for stopping the influenza outbreak in Carson City at that time. It was also used as a filming location for John Wayne's last movie, "The Shootist."

Down the Street is the Sadler House, occupied by Reinhold Sadler, when he was Governor of Nevada from 1896-1902.

In 1860 (or 1862...the printed version and online editions of this tour differ in the date), attorney William Morris Steward had a nice sandstone house built. Today, it's still home to a law office 

We saw deer on the lawn. It's Carson City's oldest standing home.

Orion Clemens lived in this 1863 home. He was the state secretary for Nevada. You might be more familiar with his brother, Samuel, who wroted under the name Mark Twain and was a frequent visitor here.

The 1868 house of George Ferris, Sr...a gentleman farmer who planted many of the trees around the capitol...is next. His son, George Ferris, Jr., went to Chicago and invented an amusement park ride...a wheel...that bears his name to this day.

We take a break and have some cold beers at Carson City's oldest saloon, a slightly divey place called the Old Globe Saloon, before moving on.

We decide to jump to the end of the tour and work our way back up so we can end up at our car. Next up is the state Capitol complex where we check out the Capitol Building. 

Mostly used for lower offices now, the Legislature and Supreme Court moved into larger, more modern buildings next door.

These are just a few highlights of the 48 stop tour. It was very interesting and a healthy way to get a close-up look at Nevada history.

Before we get back in our car, we stop by the Nugget Casino to take a few turns on their slot machines. We find another bit of pop history when we find a replica of George Barris' Batmobile parked inside. 

Done with our day of touring, we head back to our hotel in nearby Minden where we splurge on a nice Basque dinner at JT Basque, an old restaurant in Gardenerville that we've visited before.

Stuffed with a bit too much food, we retire to our room to get ready for tomorrow's adventure...which will coming soon.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2021 - All Rights Reserved